> Motoring > Reviews > Land Rover Discovery 4 HSE

Land Rover Discovery 4 HSE

Land Rover Discovery 4

South Africans have always loved their Land Rovers, and for good reason. In our beautiful country, full of offroading opportunities, they go anywhere and do anything you ask of them. But times have changed and the Brit 4x4 manufacturer has had to up their game – no longer being able to merely produce cars that could drive up Everest. The latest Disco 4 combines this legendary ability with sheer elegance and luxury (and with this kind of price tag, we should hope so). We drove the three-litre V6 turbo-diesel HSE (there’s a five-litre V8 petrol version available too) and were simply blown away.

From the outside, there are precious few visual clues that differentiate the Disco 4 from the Discovery 3, but look for more LED’s in the front lights as the giveaway. It’s inside where we see the evolution – the Discovery 4 combines leather of the finest quality with tactile wood finishes. At night, there are ambient lights dotted around. The instrument cluster and dashboard combines analog and digital dials and displays that are easy to read and beautifully crafted.

Taking pride of place in the centre dash is the touch-screen information console. It lets you change the media preferences (radio, CD, iPod), use the brilliantly-accurate SatNav and see by means of five cameras (two curb camera’s, two in front and one rear-facing – all of which you can enlarge the view of, and angle up, down or sideways. You can even watch all of ’em at the same time!). The radio is made by Harmon/Kardon and is phenomenal. The key element of the Disco 4 is quality and sumptuousness, and here Landy deliver in spades. In addition to the materials, they also do so by means of a load of gadgets (such as keyless entry, push-button start, electrically and height-adjustable seats with three memories, bi-directional headlights, satellite controls on the telescopic steering wheel, high beam assist and dual-zone climate control). There are tonnes of storage spaces dotted around, and the rear passengers have their own controls in order to adjust the aircon and radio settings. This is also true of the boot area, which hides two seats that can be popped up to make seven in total.

Land Rover Discovery 4

As for the driving experience, the Discovery 4 is in a class of its own. On the tarmac, this car is unbelievably solid and it eats up corners for breakfast. An added, and unexpected, bonus was that our average fuel consumption logged in at 10,6 litres per 100 kays! But take it offroad, and that’s where the fun begins. While we didn’t have much opportunity to go too hectic, we did throw it around on a sandy farm road. All you need do is change the pre-selected settings from general to either grass/gravel/snow or sand or mud ruts or rock crawl (the Landy naturally has hill-descent control, too). Take it from us, the Disco 4 becomes a different beast once the selection has been made. We gassed it along the sand and the Discovery held the line with absolutely no stepping-out; no matter what the speed. It was pure brilliance! The Landy is even height-adjustable, thanks to its air-suspension, which ensures the smoothest ride imaginable.

Powering the Disco 4 is a Jaguar and Landy-derived engine, which shunts out massive amounts of power at minimal revs. Bringing the Land Rover to a halt are the 360mm and 35mm ventilated-disc brakes (front and rear, respectively) which work like a bomb. The only weird thing for us was that, at this price and having attended to so many other features, Landy left out the Bluetooth and heated seats.

None the less, this is the SUV/4x4 that all others wish they could grow up to be. It’s easily the best we’ve driven yet (we’ll be having a go at the supercharged Range Rover soon, though). It’s superbly comfortable, capable, fast and powerful and so easy to drive. The Land Rover Discovery 4 is FHM’s top offroader!

Land Rover Discovery 4